Teen Challenge Korea

	After living a life bound by addictions, pain and hopelessness Jesus Christ has truly made the difference and the change in the life of Jonathan Aird. He is a graduate of the Teen Challenge program in Wales, UK (97). In addition to this, he graduated Zion Bible College with honors and as the vice president of his class in 2002. He has been involved in various outreaches and Teen Challenge ministries in North America, South America and Europe. He and his wife, serve as missionaries to the Korean people. He is a fully accredited missionary and minister with the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance in the UK. Whilst having a strong evangelistic ministry, they are seeking to further develop the ministry of Teen Challenge in Korea. Jonathan is married to SungJoo and they have 4 children - Elizabeth, Amethyst, Jesse and Lawrence.



It all began when I was 13 years old when my parents divorced and that's when my whole world fell apart. Everything I held and believed to be safe and secure was gone. My world was shattered and at 13 I was lost and scared. My grandparents who were devout Christians told me to believe in God but how could I believe in a God who would let this happen to my family and me.

I knew what the Bible declared about divorce and how God hated it. How did I know this? I knew this because I used to go to church and besides that I wanted to be a preacher at the age of 11. And when all these problems began a thought came into my mind "how could God do this to you?" It was this deceitful thought that made me turn my back on God and walk down a path that would more damage than good and more hate than love. More hell than heaven!

Living in Wales at this time was quite depressing anyway because there had just been a coal miners’ strike and the coal mine my father worked at was shut down. This heavily affected the town where I lived, as it was a very busy coal-mining town. With this in mind I began to hang out with the wrong crowd and began to drinking alcohol. I was angry, hurt, lonely and insecure and this is why I drank so I could try to drown out this pain and brokenness in my life. As I got older things got worse. I treated school as a joke and left with no qualifications. Nevertheless, I went out and got a job stacking shelves in a supermarket. My first wage packet was spent on booze. From there I changed jobs and through all of this I had got into the habit of drink driving and never really thought of the consequences if something should have happened. I just didn't care. It was my older brother, Andrew, who drew my attention to a new type of high. This high was just a joint of marijuana but it made a mark in my life because I enjoyed it as it helped me to escape from the pain and sense of hopelessness inside my heart.

And one day it happened, I met an old school friend in a local bar I didn't know he was a drug dealer and while we were reminiscing he offered me some white powder and encouraged me to try it. From here it got worse as I began to indulge and experiment in a drug lifestyle that consumed me. Things got darker as my addictions got more of a hold on my life, as I had become a slave to my own addictions. With an increasing habit I had to find ways to support it, so I began selling it. Thus, I began to steal from my family and friends. I stole tithe money from the church and money from my grandmother's missionary collection box.

But through it all, my grandmother who continually prayed for God to intervene in my life as she saw how my life was getting worse. It was in the Christmas of 1995 that I decided to end it all. I had nothing left, no family, no friends and the only things that I did have was the painful memories that I had brought to this place of ruin. I had lost all hope and overwhelmed with grief and sorrow, physically and mentally exhausted from the long days and nights of doing drugs, I went on drinking and drug binge where at the end of it I took a handful of barbiturates, went to the top of the stairs in my mother's house and just let myself fall backwards down the stairs hoping to break my neck. The next thing I remember is waking up in hospital with doctors and nurses around saying "he's back, he's back". Then I passed out only to wake up the following day with mother and grandmother at my bedside.

The overwhelming sense of failure and hopelessness when I woke up in hospital was terrible. My arms, hands and feet were bruised from where I had been injecting drugs. I was physically ashamed of myself. Now to add to everything that was going on in my life I had to go and see a psychiatrist who only added to my drug addiction by prescribing to me the drugs I could sell and share with my friends. However, it was only a matter of time before God would intervene in my life.

It was in the June of 1996 that my mother and grandmother invited me to go to a Christian tent crusade that was being held in my town. The only time that I would ever go to any church event in the past was by bribe only. So I decided to go along with them to see what I could get out of them not realizing what God had in store for me when I got there. So I went prepared with my works tucked into my left boot and my gear tucked into my right boot . But something beautiful was about to happen in my life. Something that would change my life forever and for the better!

I remember that night very well, there was a lady evangelist preaching and she said the words that changed my life. She said, "You will not find fulfillment in the drugs you take. You will not find fulfillment in the alcohol you drink and you will never find fulfillment in the lifestyle you live. You will only find true fulfillment in Jesus Christ and only in Him alone." After saying these words a call was made for people to come forward and accept Jesus Christ into their hearts and lives. As this call was being made I found myself walking to the front of this crusade and giving my heart and life to Jesus Christ. In my heart I prayed out to God, "God, I have been putting this stuff in my system for so long it is more real to me than you are. Please show me that you are real, that you are more than a name in a book." After saying this and making the decision to become a follower of Christ, the evangelist called out all those who came forward to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour for prayer. As she was praying for people God began to move by His Spirit. God began to touch people in very powerful and supernatural way. People were falling under the power of God, started to speak in another language and there were people being delivered. Eventually, she came to me and looked me clean in the eyes and said "but by the grace of God go I" and it was if a bolt of lightening hit me and I was thrown to the ground. It was at this point for the first time in my life I felt at peace, love, acceptance, hope and purpose.

However, I realized I needed change in my life and I asked God to help me. It was through a local pastor that my mother and grandmother heard about a ministry called Teen Challenge and put us in contact with this organization. I needed God to change my life and it was by going through this organization that Jesus Christ radically changed my way of life, my way of thinking, my heart and the way I behaved. From this awesome encounter I began to seek help to be restored spiritually, physically and mentally. It was while I was going through the programme I began to seek God concerning His plan and purpose for my life for God’s word declares, “for I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).” I am reminded of a hymn Charles Wesley wrote - Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature’s night; Thine eye diffused a quickening ray - I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; my chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

After my encounter with the Lord, He forever changed my life and eternal destiny. I know what He has done in me, He can do for anyone. He takes that emptiness and fills that void with His life, love and power. He breaks the chains of addiction and can set you free. You may think you have no purpose in life, you may be rejected by society but Jesus said anyone who comes to me I will by no means reject or cast away (John 6:37). In the atoning death of Jesus Christ you can find forgiveness and healing for your wounded soul, your body and your mind. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ you can find new life and a new beginning. In Jesus Christ’ promise to return, you can find assurance that what He has promised He will do and it will come to pass. He can take the guilt and pain of yesterday away for good.

Jonathan is married to SungJoo who is Korean. They have 4 children. In addition to this, Jonathan serves as the Founder and National Director of Teen Challenge Korea in Seoul. Jonathan has worked in Teen Challenge Canada, USA and has done short-term Teen Challenge missions work in Colombia. He is a graduate of the Teen Challenge UK (97) and Zion Bible College (02), Rhode Island where he graduated with honors and was the Vice president of his class. He has worked with Teen Challenge at Whitchester House in Scotland in the capacity of senior advisor, preacher and teacher. Once known as Johnny the Junky, because of his addictions, but now known as Jonathan for Jesus, a testimony and living proof of the saving grace of Jesus Christ and the transforming power of God’s word and Holy Spirit.

Since that time of transformation Jonathan buried his older brother, Andrew, just before he came to Korea for his first visit in 2004. This was the brother who introduced Jonathan to the drug culture and this was the first funeral he had to preach at as a minister. He never thought he would have to stand over his brother’s coffin and preach a message of hope. He remembers sharing his testimony and after the service was over, men would come to him weeping and tell him that their child was a drug addict. He would point them in the direction of Christ as he makes the difference and then he pointed them in the direction of the ministry of Teen Challenge. Nevertheless, there was something from the funeral that will forever stick with him and it was the look on his mother’s face ? the mother who lost a son ? the look of emptiness, devastation and loss. From this point Jonathan decided never ever to see that face again; no parent needs to lose their child unnecessarily. People die there is no avoiding that fact but the reasons why people die can be avoided. Jonathan’s brother was a raging alcoholic and he had done so much internal damage to his mind and his body that it would prove to be fatal.